How to kickstart your CX project

THERE is plenty of research that documents the changing needs of customers and explains how companies must improve the customer experience (CX) they provide in order to retain their position in the market.

As a result, several businesses are diving headfirst into projects without thinking too much about what they can achieve. However, in most instances, those investments haven’t yielded any results for the customers or the business.

In fact, a recent study found that 93 percent of CX initiatives are failing. And that’s a huge problem for businesses, because, as another study found, only one out of 26 unhappy customers complain — the rest just leave.

If businesses want to get value out of their CX projects, they must find areas of improvement that can actually transform a customer’s impression of a company. Here are three tips to find and kickstart the right CX projects:

# 1 | What are your customer’s biggest pain points?

If you’re going to get started with improving your CX, you need to pick out the solutions that irk your customers the most and then solve them. With or without the help of technology.

Say, for example, you work in a manufacturing company supplying rubber tires to airlines.

If your customer’s biggest frustration is that they’re unable to estimate how long it’ll take for you to process an order which causes them to hold spares for much longer than necessary, then remediating that will make a noticeable change in the CX you provide. Hence, that should be a good starting point.

# 2 | Can technology help transform any of your processes (safely)?

Although every problem might seem like a nail, technology isn’t always the right hammer. That being said, technology is definitely very useful and can often help transform several processes in any modern business.

In the case of the manufacturing business mentioned previous, for instance, deploying a chatbot can help customers get quick answers to queries relating to their order.

Further, using predictive analytics, the tire manufacturer can forecast the needs of its customers and optimize how it processes and delivers on orders. Doing so will also allow its customers to save on unnecessary inventory holding costs, which is especially crucial for low-cost airlines.

# 3 | Would your staff work better if they had better tools?

Your staff wants to help your customers and add more value to the work they do for you — if only they had more time.

Using modern tools, you can help your staff get things done quickly, allowing them to find the time to do more for your customers and improving their experience.

Take robotic process automation and artificial intelligence (AI) for example. They’re two technologies that can help businesses transform their workflows, allowing staff to find more opportunities to create value for the business.